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Former Mayor Eric Adams accused his successor’s administration of playing politics — as he pushed for taxpayers to foot his legal bills in a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault three decades ago.
The city Law Department filed court papers last month seeking to stop representing Adams in the long-running case, arguing that newly unearthed records showed he wasn’t acting within the scope of his employment as a transit cop at the time of the allegations.
“There is no reason why the taxpayers should pay for the defense in this case,” city attorney Maxwell Leighton said in Manhattan Supreme Court Wednesday.
Accuser Lorna Beach-Mathura sued the then-mayor in 2023, claiming that he sexually assaulted her in 1993 when they both worked for the transit police. Adams has denied her claims.
But Adams’ new private attorney, Alan Futerfas, argued the city’s move to ditch him as a client — made by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s corporation counsel Steve Banks — was a “political decision.”
“Don’t come to us three years later and show up today and say, ‘well, there’s a new guy in office, he took a look at the file and said I don’t think so,’” Futerfas argued in court.
“A new person coming into office is exactly the political decision that the courts are saying you cannot do.”
Futerfas said the law department’s March letter announcing its move to ditch the former mayor due to unspecified new findings created a “huge conflict,” and that taxpayers should pay for private attorneys.
But Leighton rebutted claims that the city was playing politics, calling the case “essentially a private dispute,” and noting the merits of the allegations were “not the issue.”
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Brendan Lantry pushed Leighton to explain what had changed since the suit was first filed three years ago.
“Why such a delay?” he asked.
Leighton acknowledged that it was part of an “appraisal of representation” undertaken by Banks as the new law department head.
He said the city reached its decision after combing through long-lost records and Beach-Mathura’s 2024 deposition in the case.
“A fresh set of eyes,” Lantry offered, adding he would issue a ruling on the “unique area of law” as soon as possible.
It could create a situation similar to Andrew Cuomo’s sex harassment lawsuits costing New Yorkers tens of millions of dollars after the former governor got the OK to bill taxpayers.
Banks also recently moved to cease repping former NYPD top brass and Adams allies Tim Pearson and Jeffrey Maddrey in their own retaliation and sexual harassment suits.
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